A warm welcome to the team!
We warmly welcome Bahar Abrishamchi, Georg Fünfgelder, Michael Peschek, Jona Pillatzke, Dr. Mahmoud Saleh and Shaoxiong Zhang as new members of our scientific team. Since this year, they have been strengthening the Chair of Brewing and Beverage Technology, contributing their individual areas of expertise and experience to our research activities.
We very much look forward to working together and to the new impulses they will bring to our projects.
M. Sc. Bahar Abrishamchi
My name is Bahar Abrishamchi and I was born in Iran. I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Food Science and Engineering at the University of Tehran. For my Master’s degree I moved to Germany in 2021, where I studied Food Biotechnology at the University of Hohenheim. My master’s thesis focused on genetically engineering Bacillus subtilis to enhance surfactin production.
In March 2025, I joined the Cereal Biotechnology research group within the Chair of Brewing and Beverage Technology to pursue my PhD. My current research focuses on the impact of cell age on the biochemical and fermentation profiles of brewer’s yeast.
Kontakt: bahar.abrishamchi(at)tum.de
M. Sc. Georg Fünfgelder
My name is Georg Fünfgelder. I grew up near Freising and completed both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Brewing and Beverage Technology at the Technical University of Munich.
Since October 2025, I have been working as a research associate at the Chair of Brewing and Beverage Technology in the research group Process- and Raw Material-Oriented Brewing Technology. My research focuses on non-alcoholic beers, with a particular emphasis on membrane-dealcoholized beers.
Kontakt: georg.fuenfgelder(at)tum.de
M. Sc. Michael Peschek
My name is Michael Peschek and I come from Hösacker, a small village in Lower Bavaria. After my Abitur in 2019 I studied Brewing and Beverage Technology at TUM, where I completed my bachelor’s degree in 2022 and my master’s degree in 2025.
Since June 2025, I have been working as a Research Associate in the Smart Production Systems research group at the Chair of Brewing and Beverage Technology. My doctoral research focuses on using smart automation software to increase the resource efficiency of breweries.
Kontakt: michael.peschek(at)tum.de
M. Sc. Jona Pillatzke
My name is Jona Pillatzke, and I grew up in the Ruhr region. I moved to the Netherlands for my studies, where I completed both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Plant Sciences at Wageningen University & Research. After that, I worked for almost two years as a research associate at the Institute of Viticulture in Freiburg.
Since April 2025, I have been working as a research associate at the Chair of Brewing and Beverage Technology in the research group Process- and Raw Material-Oriented Brewing Technology.
Kontakt: jona.pillatzke(at)tum.de
Dr. Mahmoud Saleh
Mahmoud Saleh has joined the BioPAT and Digitalization Working Group as a Postdoctoral Researcher. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Miskolc. His research background includes numerical methods for partial differential equations, in particular diffusion equations, as well as the numerical simulation of physical processes. Previously, he worked on the numerical simulation and optimization of wind turbines. His current research at BioPAT focuses on simulation-based optimization of membrane modules for the filtration of milk protein concentrates.
Kontakt: mahmoud.saleh(at)tum.de
M. Sc. Shaoxiong Zhang
My name is Shaoxiong Zhang. I am from China and have been a research associate in the Intelligent Production Systems group (BGTs) since January 2025.
I completed my master’s degree in Mechatronics and Information Technology at TUM in Garching, focusing on robotics and control engineering. For my master’s thesis, I simulated and implemented the backward driving of an autonomous tugger train, which allowed me to deepen my expertise in sensing technologies. After that, I worked for about three years as a development engineer at Esprit Engineering GmbH, where I gained valuable hands-on industrial experience.
Currently, I am working on defining communication interfaces for the standardized transmission of machine and process data to higher-level IT/MES systems. In particular, I am involved in the WS_Brew project, which focuses on developing a holistic and future-proof information model for the brewery sector based on the Weihenstephan Standards.
In my free time, I enjoy playing table tennis and snowboarding. Since joining the SPS group, I have also developed a new hobby: playing darts.
Kontakt: shaoxiong.zhang(at)tum.de
We warmly welcome our new colleagues and are delighted to have them join the team. We wish them every success as they get started, along with exciting projects and many new insights. We are very much looking forward to working together.
Welcome to the team!
The WIB team
